The Mystery of Ogino Chihiro
by misminor
Summary: Everyone agreed that Ogino Chihiro was a peculiar child. Drabble-ish. Inspired by "Follower of Rivers" by TheMysteryReviewer3624
1. Ogino Chihiro

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away**

**Warning: POV-tainted OOCness, misunderstandings galore, experiment fic**

**Un-Beta'd**

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Ogino Chihiro was a peculiar child. Everyone in school agreed. And so did anyone she happened to meet.

She was incredibly amiable though - for all of her eccentricity. She was friendly, curious, helpful, and hardworking. She was also rather religious – regularly visiting shrines and paying her respects to the various guardian spirits she came across. She was a great swimmer and an incredible artist. She was known for doodling in class, and of her vivid paintings and drawings of dragons, fire-breathing witches, and grotesque images of unidentifiable entities.

Chihiro was also an avid environmental enthusiast. Whenever she had free time, people could see her knee-high in creeks and rivers picking up trash and pulling out bicycles, carts, tires, and whatever else that polluted the waters. It was a regular sight to see her picking up whatever litter she came across, and was known throughout the school for her admonishing of any litterers that she'd catch red-handed. And when she did, her victims would just smile sheepishly and pick-up their trash and dispose of it properly. She never failed to give them a beautiful smile when they did.

It wasn't really a surprise to any of her schoolmates that she formed the Environmental Club in both middle school and high school.

Yet, despite her friendly demeanor and her green reputation, Chihiro was still a mystery to everybody. She hardly ever gave anyone straight answers unless it was about schoolwork or something environmental, but even then, she would give them religious answers about spirits and how pollution affects them. With her cryptic answers, most of what they knew came from observing her. They knew she had an aversion to pork, ran down the stairs, even if she wasn't in a hurry (out of habit, she claimed), had a fondness for spiders, mice, birds, weasels, frogs, slugs that weren't black, and even_ soot_ of all things.

Everyone in school knew, or at least knew of, Ogino Chihiro. She was eccentric, but well-liked by everyone. Of course, given her popularity, there were a lot of boys in the school who had a crush on the charming girl, but she never seemed to notice. It didn't seem as if she knew of her popular status, however, despite the love-letters and confessions she'd occasionally receive. She turned them all down though, gently stating that she'd already given her heart to someone.

And didn't _that_ fuel the rumor mill. Not that she noticed, though.

There was even an unofficial club dedicated to solving the mystery of Ogino Chihiro. Of course, in such a small, quiet town, they really had nothing better to do. And coming up with various theories about the girl was probably the most entertaining thing they could do in such a boring town. Of course, Ogino Chihiro was oblivious to all this.

So when an unknown, pretty woman in a kimono showed up in school one day, everyone knew. And so, of course, everyone knew that Chihiro was incredibly familiar with her, going as far as to engulf the woman into a tackle-turned-hug. The mystery surrounding Chihiro increased when they learned that the woman repeatedly addressed Chihiro as "Sen."

Rumors and theories contemplating Chihiro's alias sprung up like weeds.

When a classmate asked Chihiro who the woman was, Chihiro replied with, "Oh, that was my sister, Rin." And when the woman showed up a few days later with Chihiro's forgotten bento, a brave student apparently tried to hit on her.

The boy came back to school a week later with barely-healed injuries and the entire school knew: _Chihiro's sister was a yanki_. Or at least, had been one.

And the entire school wondered how Ogino Chihiro wasn't a delinquent. They were careful not to provoke Ogino Chihiro after that. After all, a violent temper like that must run in the family, right? And if by some miracle Chihiro wasn't as violent as her sister when angered, that didn't mean that yanki wouldn't seek retribution for her little sister.

When another pretty woman appeared at school during lunch, all dressed up in a kimono, looking for "Sen," people paled and quickly sent her in the direction of Chihiro's classroom. The woman bowed to the class to please excuse her interruption, before addressing Chihiro as "Sen" and informing the girl that "Young Master Haku" would like to see her when she has time. With that, the woman bowed out and left, but not before Chihiro managed to thank her, addressing the woman as "Yuna."

Chihiro was absolutely radiant for the rest of the day. And people speculated who this "Young Master" was and his relationship to Chihiro.

_Her boyfriend?_

When the cultural festival came around, female students gossiped about a gorgeous boy their age – whose aura and disposition practically screamed nobility, coupled with that formal kimono of his – that came to see the school festival. The male students got tired of hearing the girls gush about the mystery boy. The only one who didn't was Chihiro, who was cheerfully working in the class's café. When her shift was over, she was reportedly seen holding hands with the boy – accompanied by Chihiro's sister and another woman, who looked strangely like that "Yuna" lady.

At some point, the school learned about Chihiro's eccentric family members through her various, scattered off-handed comments. She had an unimaginative grandfather who had various pets – to all of which he bestowed the name "Sootball." She had a grandmother who she claimed was sweet and caring but had a vindictive, vengeful streak when crossed. She had a grand-aunt, the twin of her grandmother, who Chihiro had once swore could breathe fire, and was a cruel, but reasonable, old witch when it didn't concern her son, Bôh. Then there was someone named Kaonashi who was gentle, helpful, and kind, but could turn into a violent beast when provoked, though Chihiro claimed that she's only seen it happen once.

Strangely, no one was surprised about the awful tempers of the Ogino family, given Rin, the yanki older sister. They dreaded the day they would have to face Chihiro's wrath

Once, Chihiro had laughingly mentioned to a classmate about how the men in her life were kind of over-protective. The "Young Master Haku," the very same one that the girls had gushed over during the cultural festival, they had learned, was Chihiro's boyfriend. A classmate had reported to witnessing his defending Chihiro from a drunken bunch of delinquents. "It was brutal," said the classmate. And the way he had…disposed of them… And how Chihiro's sister came to help clean it up.

Rumors circulated.

_Chihiro was dating a yakuza prince and her sister was his underling._

There were no more love-letters or confessions after that.

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**Hmm... debaing whether or not I should mark this as "Complete." I may or may not have another chapter for this.**

**Oh well. Sorry for the messy style.**

**R&amp;R please?**


	2. Haku

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away**

**Warning: slight AU; slight OOCness; outsider's POV**

**Un-Beta'd**

* * *

Ogino Chihiro was strange, likeable, but strange. It was an accepted fact. Ogino Chihiro was a mystery. A friendly, hardworking, cryptic mystery. Another accepted fact.

But despite how little everyone knew about her, it still came to them as a surprise when they heard that she already had a boyfriend.

A gorgeous, silent, and equally mysterious boyfriend.

He had showed up at the school gates one day, dressed in a traditional male kimono, waiting at the gates as students left to go home. It was easy to spot him, what with a gaggle of blushing school girls surrounding him.

Despite the crowd around him, he had paid the surrounding girls no mind, only stoically looking forward as if they weren't there.

And then came Ogino Chihiro. The smile that had broken out of the boy's face had been incredibly beautiful, the witnesses agreed. And the females present knew that they stood no chance when they saw how the two had looked at each other.

Chihiro had never looked so radiant.

The following day, when a crowd of curious classmates asked Chihiro who the boy was, they had recieved a beautiful smile and a name.

Some exeedingly curious classmates took it upon themselves to learn more about this "Haku" that had the females in their school besotted.

They had a difficult time gathering information on the mysterious "Haku." Whatever they could get was only from the rare occations of stumbling across kimono-wearing men and women running errands. And even then, the only thing they got out of those people were variants of, "Excuse me, I'm in a hurry" and "Young Master Haku will not be pleased if I am late." They did not fail to notice that the men and women wore their kimono like a uniform.

If it wasn't for the one time they had seen one of those kimono-wearing men bowing and appologising perfusely for something-or-other to their subject of interest, they would not have known that Chihiro's "Haku" and the "Young Master" were one and the same.

Once, they had come across a woman, dressed in the tell-tale kimono uniform they had become aquainted with in their sleuthing, going about her duties in an unhurried fashion. She had looked at them in surprise and suspicion. "You know of Young Master Haku?" When they had mentioned Ogino Chihiro, her semi-hostile expression dropped. "Chihiro?" she had said, "Oh, you mean Sen!" And with that she nodded to herself and went back to work. She did not talk to them again, and the group gave up after several futile attempts to re-engage her in conversation.

Once, they had come across one of the kimono-wearing men - the ones who all resembled toads - in what seemed to be an errand. Perhaps they were all related to one another? There was no way they could all look so alike without being related.

The man had been grumpy and rude, shooing them off. "I don't know how Sen can stand being around you people," the man muttered. He must have recognized their school uniform. "Now leave me alone! I can't work properly with you lot disturbing me." Somewhere in the conversation after a few provocations from the students, the man had yelled at them to scram before he did something that would incur his "Young Master's wrath."

They eagerly ran off when Ogino's intimidating sister appeared in the uniform kimono. As they ran, they could hear the woman saying that she was sent to find him since he took so long to come back. "Better hope the Young Master isn't too mad when you get back," they heard her tease. The last thing they heard as they disappeared from the two adults was the man's horrified wail.

They wondered just what kind of person this "Haku" was to evoke such fear in what they suspected were his employees. Or rather, servants based on how they addressed him.

One day, one of the student sleuths that was investigating "Haku," spied Ogino Chihiro holding hands with the mysterious boy on what seemed to be a date. The gentle way the boy regarded his companion made the student doubt his previous conclusion of the boy's character. After all, someone that gentle couldn't possibly be such a horrible person, right?

Then came the drunken delinquents. The student was about to go help the couple from the harassment, but was too late.

He saw the following massacre, for that was the only word he could describe the scene that had followed. And in the end, he was glad that the two had failed to notice him behind the building. He did not want to know how Ogino's boyfriend would react to his spying on them.

He understood that paranoia and fear those kimono-wearing men and women felt now. He wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of that person's wrath either. At some point, the boy had gently guided Ogino somewhere else, and if he hadn't been frozen in fear, he would not have witnessed Ogino's sister, and a few others in that kimono uniform, clean up the mess their young master had left behind.

When he had witnessed the boy reverting back to his gentle persona, he knew.

That side was reserved for Ogino Chihiro, and her alone.

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**Don't worry, Kohaku didn't kill anyone. Just... severely incapacitated them.**

**Incase anyone is confused, the Yuna and the Frog men are all still spirits. They just appear in the Human World once in a while to buy supplies and herbs they cannot find in the Spirit World.**

**With people who appear to either be employees or servants addressing Chihiro's boyfriend as "Young Master," his graceful and traditional appearance, people think Haku is rich. Especially when said employees/servants wear kimono of all things, and not yukata, as a uniform.**


	3. Rin

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.**

**Warning: Outsiders' POV; misunderstandings; slight AU**

**Un-Beta'd**

* * *

When they had first seen the pretty woman, they were all curious. When they learned she was looking for her little sister, "Sen," they grew confused. There wasn't anyone named "Sen" that went to their school.

Then Ogino had appeared behind them and had asked what the commotion was about. When she heard the name "Sen," her eyes widened and she bolted. Next thing they knew, Ogino had tackled the woman into a hug.

"That was Rin," Ogino later told them. "She's my sister."

One day, a pair of witnesses later reported seeing a brave student hitting on Ogino's older sister. They had watched, wide-eyed as the woman quickly dealt with the annoyance. The woman spotted them and had scowled, growling that her little dope of a sister had better not be subjected to such behavior. _Or else, _was left unsaid, but was heard loud and clear.

_Yanki, _they thought. She had to have been a yanki. There was no other explanation.

The group who had decided to investigate Ogino's boyfriend had told them that they had seen Ogino's older sister wearing the same kimono uniform that belonged to employees – or servants, one had said – of Ogino's boyfriend.

_Yakuza,_ a student said. Ogino's boyfriend was in the yakuza.

_Ogino's sister was part of the yakuza –_ an underling of the "Young Master" who was dating their schoolmate.

Some didn't believe it. After all, it was one thing to be a delinquent, but it was another thing to be part of the yakuza.

"I saw it with my own eyes!" the student argued. "Ogino's boyfriend attacked the delinquents that were harassing them. It was like a massacre! And then her sister and some others came and cleaned up the mess, and it was like it never happened!"

But how could a sweet girl like Ogino get caught up in something like that?

_Maybe she doesn't know,_ some reasoned.

"Eh? Rin?" Ogino said. "Yeah, she works under Haku."

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**Only ONE more AP exam to take! Then I'm freeeeeee~!**

**...After I finish my term paper and my Finals that is...**

***sulk***

**R&amp;R please~ It'll bring my spirits up for sure! (pun not intended)**


	4. Kaonashi (No-Face or Noh Face)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away**

**Warning: Outsider's POV; slight AU; experiment fic**

**Un-Beta'd**

* * *

Ogino Chihiro had a scary sister and a terrifying boyfriend. She also, apparently, had a very, very, very creepy uncle - a tall, silent man who wore black from head to toe and a white Nôh mask.

He had showed up one day, waiting at the gates during lunch, carrying a cloth-covered bento. The students didn't know what to make of him. Half wanted to ignore and avoid him. Half wanted to call the authorities.

Then came Ogino, cheerfully running at the man, hugging him, thanking him, taking the bento, and leaving to go back to her class, but not before receiving a pat on the head and waving goodbye.

They immediately flocked to her.

"Oh, him?" she had said. "That was Kaonashi. He's like my granny's adopted son."

They accepted his presence after that. Eccentricity apparently ran in the Ogino family. After all, a happy, friendly girl like Ogino wouldn't possibly greet a psychopath so cheerfully, right?

"He's really sweet," Ogino once said. "He used to look after me when I was ten."

They had seen him help a student when they had gotten hit with a stray baseball. He took the kid to the nurse. The kids decided he wasn't so bad after that. Albeit rather creepy, but an okay person nonetheless.

Appearances could be deceiving after all. Maybe he was in theatre? That would explain the mask. Probably on his way to work or something when he drops of her lunch, they thought.

Once, a girl was dared to go up to the masked man. Her friends hid behind a tree, his back facing them. They couldn't hear what she said to the man, but they saw him reach a hand to his face. The girl had turned red.

When they pestered her, the girl blushed and muttered about how good-looking the male Ogino was. She refused to speak about it anymore. Further prying only got her red and flustered.

"He can be so cute sometimes," Ogino said. But somehow, they got the feeling they weren't talking about the same thing.

They grew curious about Ogino's uncle. They wanted to see his face.

When Ogino overheard them, she warned them not to pester him too much. "Kaonashi may be gentle," she said, "but he may get upset if you take it too far."

A group of students were absent for a few weeks after that. When they came back to school, they had developed a healthy fear of shadows and masks. They wouldn't tell anyone what had happened to them, no matter how much the others pestered. One had even jumped at his own shadow and ran away crying. One had nearly fell down the stairs after he swore he saw a shadow move.

When Ogino saw them, she just shook her head and said, "I told you."

No one approached the masked man after that. No one that wasn't Ogino Chihiro, that is.

Though strangely, some girls decided to form a fan club.

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**Finally! AP TESTING IS OFFICIALLY OVER FOR ME! :DD**

**...Now all I have to do is my term paper ._.**

**Shouldn't be too hard...Right?**


	5. Zeniba and Kamaji

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away**

**Warnings: Outsider's POV; misunderstandings**

**Un-Beta'd**

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With the well-known strangeness that surrounded Ogino Chihiro and her family, they were not surprised to discover that her very own grandparents were touched with Ogino's eccentricity. On Parent Day, Ogino's parents failed to show. Ogino didn't seem disappointed though. Instead, her grandparents took their place.

They were old and gray, as expected. The grandmother was short and plump, wearing an expensive-looking antique blue dress and large, expensive, gaudy jewelry. Her earrings were made of pure gold, and her brooch was composed of a large red rock - ruby or garnet, they could not tell - lined with gold. She wore at least one ring on each finger, and like her brooch, the rocks she adorned were just as large - covering her fingers from knuckle to knuckle. She looked friendly enough, but something about her made them want to squirm.

The grandfather was bald, tall, and lanky. He was dressed in black, with complementing black spectacles that mysteriously stayed on his face despite the lack of temples (1). His mustache was large and bushy, covering the lower half of his face. His arms were impossibly long, seeming to go on for miles on end. His fingers were long and spidery, and his nails sharply resembled black claws. They didn't know what to think of him, but for some reason, his very presence made them want to shudder. Kind of like how one would be torn between running away and freezing at the sight of a spider.

Despite their apparently friendly demeanor, something about them just screamed at the students to watch their step. After a brave soul struck up conversation with Ogino's grandfather, however, the students began to relax. He didn't seem that bad. He was loud at times - especially when praising his granddaughter - but he was friendly enough. A bit grouchy at times though.

He talked about a lot of things: how he used to work in a _boiler_ room, about his pets he named "Sootball," about how he used to have "Sen" help him out at work when she was younger - much like how he used the useless servants the Young Master would _gift_ him. Free labor and all that.

At the casual mention of Ogino's boyfriend, everyone in the vicinity didn't bother to mask their blatant attempt to eavesdrop. He didn't seem to notice. Neither did Ogino. But that was probably because she was too busy hiding her red face behind her hands as her grandfather was loudly reminiscing the past.

"I remember when Sen first met the Young Master," he said. "Sen was only ten and she was already causing trouble!"

"Trou-trouble!" Ogino's face was red. "I wasn't _that_ bad! Besides," she pouted, "Haku and I met way before then."

"Oho?"

"He saved me from drowning in the Kohaku River when I was younger."

"Oho? Is that so?" Somehow, despite having over 50% of his face covered, he managed to give a mischievous look. "Maybe the River God wanted to take you as his wife."

The students watched in fascination as Ogino's face grew redder than they thought was possible. "S-Stop!" Ogino turned to her grandmother. "Granny! Make him stop! Please!"

Her grandmother just gave her a sly look in return. "I don't know, Chihiro. You know that that young man has always known what he wants. Is it so hard to believe someone like young Haku could decide something like that so early?"

"G-Granny!"

"You know as well as we do how much you mean to that young man. We've all seen how possessive and protective that young dragon is. Doesn't he still have that shoe you lost when he saved you?"

"Stoooop," she whined, burying her face into her hands. Her ears were scarlet.

"Oh, how romantic!" One of the girls piped.

"Just like that Western fairytale! Cinderella!" Another sighed dreamily.

"Ohoho," Ogino's grandmother laughed mischievously. "Yes, dear. How _romantic_."

"Sen's not just a damsel in distress," her grandfather harrumphed, drawing curious eyes and ears. "She saved that Young Master from your little servants, remember?" Somehow, even with his pitch-black lenses, he managed to direct a pointed look at his wife.

"Hmph! That little brat had it coming that time," the old woman scowled. "Who did he think he was dealing with? Hmph!"

"Bah! I could care less about that!" The old man glowered – somehow. He seemed to forget that they weren't the only ones in the room. "Do you know how long it took to clean up all that blood?! My workplace was a mess!"

A chill went up their spine at his words, and the previously humorous atmosphere disappeared.

"Next time you try to kill someone, don't destroy my place!"

"Hmph! You act as if I purposely lured him there! It's not my fault the brat fled to _that_ place."

When their spat turned into a dangerous argument, Ogino stepped in and somehow pacified them with a few words. And as if nothing happened, the elderly couple returned to their jovial states of being.

The rest of the day was filled with a stifling, anxious silence.

When the day was finally over and the dangerous couple finally left with the dubious excuse of being needed "elsewhere," the class let out a collective sigh of relief.

Somewhere along the lines, Ogino bowed to everyone in apology for her grandparents. When a brave classmate tentatively asked why they had come instead of her parents, Ogino scratched her cheek and smiled, face still flushed.

"My dad was going to come, but he got called in to deal with an important client, and my mom had to fill-in at work 'cause a co-worker had to go on medical leave."

She received some blank stares in response, and a few gave up trying to fathom their life and face-planted on their desk. Some of the girls, on the other hand, whispered and squealed about something-or-other. Snippets of "Romeo and Juliet" floated about.

When the day was over and everyone went their separate ways, a student wondered what that old man did in that "boiler room" of his, and shuddered at the implications before dismissing the thought in favor of happier things. But his mind couldn't help but think back to Ogino's obviously Yakuza family. Really, it was no wonder that onna-oyabun(2) was so irked. Her granddaughter was dating the heir of their rival Yakuza family!

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**(1) Part of the frames for glasses. The temples are the foldable parts that allow the frames to rest on the ears.**

**(2) Female oyabun (female head of the Yakuza family)**


End file.
